Tervuren Park & Africa Museum

Stroll through this beautiful park and enjoy its many floating attractions. Then go and learn about Central Africa and Belgian’s dark colonial history in the region.

Feel like you’ve already visited every park in Brussels? Why not expand your horizons into nearby Flemish Brabant just a little bit? Only 9 miles (15 km) away from the centre of Belgium’s capital lies the splendid Tervuren Park (aka Warande).

This park is the perfect place to unwind and relax after a long, busy week in the city. Its beautiful trees will give you a sense of peace no matter the season, and its spectacular ponds will free your mind from any stressful thought. Get ready to admire beautiful swans and floating water lilies, oaks, beeches, flowerbeds and statues.

Yes, you read that right: there are floating statues in Tervuren Park. Many of them reflect on Belgium’s colonial past. And if you are curious to learn more about the topic, Tervuren Park is also home to the beautiful Africa Museum. There are dozens of permanent and temporary exhibitions related to the region, where you can learn more about this part of Africa. There is a permanent exhibition which focuses on Belgium’s - at times gruesome - colonial history.

Africa Museum

• The Africa Museum is over 100 years old. Every area of the museum covers a different aspect of African culture and history: where else in Belgium would you be able to learn more about the languages spoken in the continent and its unique biodiversity, or even take a look at pieces of preserved Congolese nature dating back to the 1920s?
• You will always find something new to see: every few months there’s a new temporary exhibition ready to surprise you!
• The museum was renovated in 2018. Today, the section on Colonial History and Independence gives you a more complete view on Belgium’s colonial past, including the dark parts that were hidden for a while.
• Note: you will need to purchase the tickets online beforehand.